The association between residential arrangements and academic performance in UK university students

ABSTRACT

In contrast with many European nations, university students in the United Kingdom have traditionally relocated for their higher education (HE). However, with rising fees and diversification of the student body, an increasing number are remaining in their parental or own home whilst they attend a local university or commute to a HE provider. For these students, evidence suggests that future employability and earning potential may differ, relative to course mates who relocated. The impact of commuting and/or living at home on other key outcomes has received only limited attention amongst researchers, practitioners and policymakers. The current study draws on academic performance data from over 14,000 students attending a UK University. Using postcode information, we identified students who had relocated in order to study. In a novel approach, we further divided the remaining students into those who lived in an existing home close to the University, or those who commuted from afar to attend. Results indicate that students’ residential profile does not impact their chances of passing modules but may influence whether they achieve the highest grades. Lower grades were consistently observed amongst commuter students. Of additional importance, a gender effect emerged, whereby the established trend for male under performance was not observed for young men who remained in an existing home.

KEYWORDS:

• Attainment
• commuter
• live at home
• widening participation

Acknowledgments

We acknowledge Professor Pauline Kneale and Jane Collings for sharing their knowledge of the sector during the preparation of this manuscript. We thank an anonymous review for their insightful observations about variation in median UCAS scores between different academic disciplines.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. https://www.ucas.com/file/63541/download?token=uz826-Cb.

2. We did not pursue an even more granular approach (e.g. calculating median UCAS scores for each programme), as some programmes had very few participants.

3. For further information on these statistical terms, readers are directed to the insightful papers by Andrade (2015) and Du Prel et al. (2009).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Oliver J. Webb

Dr Oliver J. Webb is an Educational Developer at the University of Plymouth. His research interests include student transitions and widening participation.

Rebecca Turner

Dr Rebecca Turner is an Educational Developer at the University of Plymouth. Her research interests include representation of the student voice, the contribution evaluation can make to educational development practice, and student transitions.